It’s a rainy, blustery October night in New York City, and the lineup for takeoff here at Kennedy International looks to be a good mile long. Lots of heavy metal around, much of it headed across the pond with us. We’re the “light twin” of the bunch in our Boeing 767-300ER. I’m in the right seat and will be the flying pilot to Frankfurt, Germany, an attaboy from the skipper after serving as relief pilot for the first two crossings of this six-day trip. I glance across the cockpit and see JetBlue’s Terminal 5 through the captain’s rain-streaked windscreen — and peeking out from behind it, the real Terminal 5, the 1962 modern masterpiece that famed architect Eero Saarinen sculpted for Trans World Airlines shortly before his untimely passing. It’s still beautiful and timeless, even shunted away behind the modern airport-in-a-box dreck. The first time I saw it, on my first visit to JFK at the age of 19, the sheer audacity of T5 literally took my breath away. It looked like a UFO, its glowing glass edifice shimmering across a rain-slicked ramp much like this one. I’d never been so proud to be an unpaid intern for a bankrupt airline.
A Pro Pilot’s Secret to Success
Key Takeaways:
- The author's pivotal experience as a young intern on a flight to Cairo with Captain Charlie Parker solidified his decision to become an airline pilot, profoundly influenced by Parker's mentorship and generosity.
- Captain Parker imparted a "Golden Rule" for pilots: prioritize the crew, then passengers, then the airplane, and finally oneself, a lesson he learned from his own World War II-era captains.
- This multi-generational principle of professional conduct and care is presented as the cornerstone for a fulfilling, respected, and happy career in aviation, transcending industry challenges.
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